Posted on 04/29/2013 10:17:16 PM PDT by nickcarraway
A Nashville family is suing Cox Media and other defendants after they posted altered images of their son with Down syndrome with descriptions that read "Retarded News" and other "offensive" mischaracterizations.
Pamela and Bernard Holland are parents of Adam, who was diagnosed with Down syndrome at birth. The suit, filed with the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Tennessee, claims the the Hollands were shocked to learn that an image of Adam taken in July 2004, when he was 17, was used for commercial use with "defamatory" descriptions, the Hollands' lawsuit states.
Pamela Holland declined to comment to ABC News on the suit.
In the original photo, Adam is holding a sketch he created while attending an art class at the Vanderbilt Kennedy Center in Nashville. But a radio station in Tampa, Fla., that is owned by Cox Media Group, WHPT-FM, used the image on its website in which Adam holds a sign that reads "Retarded News."
The lawsuit does not describe how the radio station obtained the image.
Last summer, the group "Spread the Word to End the Word," which campaigns to end the use of the word "retard" to describe people with mental disabilities, contacted the radio station about the photo.
The program director of the radio station wrote an email to the campaign, apologizing for the use of the photo by "The Cowhead Show."
"The segment 'Retarded News' is designed to highlight odd stories that are seemingly always in the news," according to the email that was included in the court papers.
(Excerpt) Read more at abcnews.go.com ...
I hope they win in court.
sounds like a case of gratuitous defamation to me... they could have used an actor-posed photo or had an artist draw something but no, they have to shame this down’s kid... i think they ought to put the retarded label on their own selves.
They will probably lose. Disabled youth are considered to be enemies of the state
you mean darlings of the welfare state (not that if anyone gets welfare, they should, but they are cynically used as the thin edge of a wedge)
This will be an interesting trial.
Sometimes I wonder whether it’s this whole country that’s got a dumb on.
While this was in poor taste, they are considered Conservative media.
That could be the real problem.
So, tell me, how long have they been considered Conservative media. Where they purchased by the Cox conglomerate after they had become known as conservative?
I ask in that our local “conservative” station WOKV seems to be ever so slowly pulling away from that conservative label, at least on local content. Not insomuch as the regular syndicated shows but in the people and the way they are reporting the local and national news. BTW, is it not ironic that both are now owned by Cox?
They are doing the MSM thing of using AP feeds as the complete story to report and I have at times informed them of the rest of the story. It has gotten so bad that I do not listen to them anymore on a regular basis. But when I do, it is still the same. The only reason they keep the syndicated shows is because it is profitable.
Because of that, Progressives get to filter the news while claiming to be conservative.
I hate to say it but I’m laughing my ass off right now.
Not at the boy but that the picture just represents ABC, CBS, NBC news in their non coverage of Gosnell. It is just perfect and fits democrats/libs to a T.
This is sickening.. I have worked with Down Syndrome kids before.. and they are adorable...
I would wish the bigot’s next child to have Down Syndrome, but that would be unfair to the child :(
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